Chemistry and Raw Material Lithium Production from domestic Raw Materials

In view of an increasing demand for lithium and the unequal distribution of lithium resources worldwide, domestic deposits, such as the zinnwaldite deposit at Zinnwald/Cínovec, may become increasingly important. In order to meet the naturally given challenges of this mineral, two novel processes have been developed, optimised and economically evaluated. It was shown that especially the direct carbonation process (COOL-process) with supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-CO2) represents a promising approach with a high potential for a technical implementation, owed to a negligible consumption chemicals combined with the high selectivity for lithium. Furthermore, the process is also suitable for recovering lithium carbonate from black mass, the lithium-containing fraction from lithium ion accumulator recycling. © 2018, Wiley-VCH Verlag. All rights reserved.